THE LAST LEAF

A child learns lessons from autumn’s last lingering leaf.

The pale-skinned, bespectacled young narrator is enjoying a beautiful fall day…before being decked in the face with a soccer ball. The scene abruptly shifts to the pitch as the child sighs: “I try hard. But I’m not very good.” Back home, the child jumps into a leaf pile in the yard. A final fall leaf clings to a tree branch, and though the protagonist is determined to reach it, the child’s attempts fail. As the leaf clings stubbornly to its limb, the protagonist persists, too, practicing soccer even as the color drains from the once vibrant pages, conveying the youngster’s despair. The leaf hangs on through winter while the protagonist plays indoor soccer, honing skills on the long march to spring. As buds bloom on the tree, the child notices the last leaf is still there and proudly notes, “I am, too!” The illustrations fill with color again, and the youngster remembers the leaf’s lessons: “Hang…in…there!” At last, the child leads the soccer team to victory during a championship game. Biedrzycki’s pencil illustrations are alive with the emotion, energy, and empathy readers will remember from his previous work. The author/illustrator inserts clever details—the soccer team is the Leafs (in the final scene, the titular phrase applies to both the leaf and the child, who gets the chance to step up at last).

Just the thing to plant the seeds of perseverance in young readers.